Ode To The Old Tech Suit On A Cold Florida Day

How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways...that is how I feel about my tech suit.  I love it for so many reasons.  But since it's now banned I love it for it's warmth on a cold afternoon swim.  It's 57F which ain't cold but with high winds it's a bit brisk outside.  Cold enough for me to break out the old tech suit B70 and for the first time ever I wore a swimcap!  I am a cold weather wimp!  Another great thing about the old B70 is that it's like wearing compression leggings.  Something I needed today.  I've been busy out of the water teaching 4 spinning classes on Monday with 3 of them all in a row.  Then this morning I had two spinning classes in a row at 5:45 and then 7am.  Swim practice is at 10am so I dont' have much time to rest and recover.  Who knows how long I'll be able to keep it all up.  But at least for today I was able to swim and do sorta okay.  I think the B70 helped!

I actually swam extra for warmup since it was so cold I didn't want to stop and hang out.  I started off putting in the lane lines so got in a 100.  Then I did a 550 warm up.  The damn watch has it at 575.  I don't get that Garmin Swim!  Then some kick for another 200 yards.  (850)  Then 6x50's with fins (kick down/1 finger drill coming back)  (300/1150)  Finishing up with 3x100's (1 Finger, catch up, pace, faster)  (300/1450) 

Main Set:

8x150's on 2:45 (I think)  It was 50 Catch Up, 50 Pace, 50 Fast.

   Time    Distance Avg Pace
1    1:52.6     150     1:15
2    1:52.1     150     1:15
3    1:48.1     150     1:12
4    1:51.2     150     1:14
5    1:47.4     150     1:12
6    1:43.8     150     1:09
7    1:39.4     125     1:20

I know 1 is my fault since I forgot to start the watch but I don't know why it only registerd a 125 at the end.  I was feeling pretty good during this set.  I was really pushing myself at the end.  (1200/2650)

Stroke Time - I got in a 150 kick.  I had to take a pee break and stretch out the legs.  I started to feel a cramp coming on.  (150/2800)  Then we did 6x75's Drill/Free/Swim on 1:45.  I did them fly/back/fly/back/fly and fly.  (450/3250)  Then it was almost time to finish so we did 8x25's Free on 60 (200/3450) and then lastly 8x25's on 60 2 of each stroke.  (200/3650)  And that was it.  Done and done!
Nine swims in 30 days isn't much swimming.  I'm hoping to be able to wake up and go swimming tomorrow morning before work.  But I doubt it.  Just a swim just so I can get in a swim.  I am most likely going to miss workout on this Thursday and I know the following Thursday I won't make it.  Oh well, it is what it is.

Almost But Not Yet My Last Swim Workout...

I was about to write my swimming obituary with this workout post but I've decided to Keep Calm And Swim On!  Right now with my work schedule my swimming has been limited.  Starting next week I'll be teaching two spin classes back 2 back at 5:45am & 7:00am which means not much rest before 10am swim practice.  I was about to pack it in for swimming but I'm going to attempt to swim.  I'll just have to take it easy at first in the pool to I can get use to the morning work load. 

As for today teaching only the 5:45am class was hard enough for me in the pool.  Warm up was me pulling a 500 only using paddles for the last 150.  I think using the paddles messes up the Garmin Swim count as it counted it as a 525 but later on doing 8x25's cooling down it counted those as 175.  Guess it balances out.  After the 500 we did a 200 kick then 3x100's (25 - Swim/Kick/Pull/Build.) (1000)

Main Set:

Oh it was a good one.  I was liking this and feeling pretty good for a change.

2x200's on 3:20 or was it 3:10

2x150's on 2:10 or was it 2:20

2x100's on 1:40

1    2:24.2    
2    2:17.4    
3    1:45.5
4    1:41.9    
5    1:09.7    
6    1:06.4   

It was descending in each set.  Times were okay for old me but good for new me.  Actually during these workouts I feel pretty good during the free part.  It's after the main set that I fall to shit!  (900/1900)

10x50's Free on 60 Easy 25 / Sprint 25 (500/2400)

Stroke Time - I did a 50 kick and took a pee break.  It was to be a 200 Kick.  Hey, old habits plus now I have an excuse.  My legs are my moneymakers!  Teach 7 spin classes a week which will now be 9 classes a weeks! (50/2450)

10x50's Stroke on 60 Drill 25 / Sprint 25.  I alternated fly/back.  (500/2950)

2x50's FAST Stroke on 3 Minutes.  I did these fly.  (100/3050)

8x25's on 45 Stroke and Free.  I used these as my cool down (200/3250)  And that was it.  Teaching one spin class before ride is tough.  Two is going to be killer.  But I'm going to try it.  I just wont get my 20 - 30 minute morning power nap.  Oh well.

Month    Total Distance
Jan    26.14 miles (=46,000 yards, =42,062 meters)
Feb    21.68 miles (=38,150 yards, =34,884 meters)
Mar    19.36 miles (=34,075 yards, =31,158 meters)
Apr    14.29 miles (=25,150 yards, =22,997 meters)
May    18.67 miles (=32,853 yards, =30,041 meters)
Jun    11.16 miles (=19,650 yards, =17,968 meters)
Jul    17.97 miles (=31,625 yards, =28,918 meters)
Aug    21.08 miles (=37,100 yards, =33,924 meters)
Sep    17.59 miles (=30,950 yards, =28,301 meters)
Oct    15.91 miles (=28,009 yards, =25,611 meters)
Total    183.84 miles (=323,562 yards, =295,865 meters)

At this point the only thing I can say about my swimming...

Me No Likey! More Tales of Barely Swimming.

It's almost embarrassing these days to log my swim workouts.  Not only am I barely swimming due to work but when I do swim my swims are sad little swims.  It's not getting any better.  I will admit that not swimming on Sunday was all my fault.  I was beat.  I went to bed early, didn't drink any alcohol but when I woke up I just didn't want to do anything so I went back to bed and slept a total of 11 hours.   That was Sunday as for Monday I teach spinning at 8:15am and 6:30pm.  I should squeeze in a swim workout in the afternoon but I didn't.  So even after teaching at 5:45am this morning I made myself hit the 10am swim practice.  I didn't want to but I made it.  I only swam for 60 minutes and not the 75-90 minutes we do.  My legs were cramping up so I gave up.

Being Tuesday it was my day for lane lines so I did a 100 (not a 75.  the watch recorded only the 75 cuz' I forgot to start the watch.)  Then I pulled a 500.  Don't know why the Garmin Swim recorded a 525.  So a 600 yard warm up.

3x100's Kick with 20 seconds rest (300/900)

4x100's (ignore that 800 I f'ed up the watch) on 1:50 Swim/Kick/Pull/Build (400/1300)

300 Swim but picking up the pace on laps 3, 6, 9 and 12.  (300/1600)

6x100's on 1:40 Descending in groups of 2. 

According to my watch (which isn't accurate cuz' I gotta manually stop the button) my times were:

1    1:09.6    
2    1:10.0    
3    1:07.6    
4    1:07.1    
5    1:06.1    
6    1:06.5   

Know I know that 5th one I saw a 05 on the digital clock.  But whatever.  (600/2200)

12x50's with paddles easy down / fast back on 50 (600/2800)  The watch recorded a 550 cuz' I forgot to start the clock.  Since I had paddles on I also didn't stop in between 50's I just let the clock run it's course.

The all I got in was a 75 butterfly kick before my legs were done with me.  (75/2875)  So 2,875 yards in for today.  But at least I swam.  Which hasn't been much for me this Swimtober as seen on my usms flog
4.07 miles (=24,759 yards, =22,640 meters) so far for the month.  Tisk!  Tisk!  This is were I'd normally give myself a goal for the rest of the month but alas I will not this time.  Work comes first despite what I want to believe.  I'll just swim when I can.  Me no likey! 

Swimming To Somewhere If Only I Had A Map

If it's Thursday I better be f'in swimming!  Woah, once again I've been out of the water for days on end.  Last time swimming was Saturday.  Now it's not like I don't do anything those days.  I teach spinning pretty much every day but Friday and Sunday.  With my class scheadule I really only get to swim on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the 10am workout.  Well that really isn't much fun since I teach spinning those mornings at 5:45am.  I'm beat before I gotta swim.  So on this past Tuesday I wasn't feeling so hot therefore I skipped swimming.  Which was a good thing as I ended up going back and teaching the evening class.  Wednesdays I could always swim on my own at 7am but I was beat and slept in.  Then I teach at 12 and 6:30pm.  Which is okay but teaching to about 7:25 at night sorta blows when I gotta be back to teach the next morning at 5:45am.  So I never get much rest on Monday and Wednesday nights.  Last night I had about 3 hours sleep.  After class I come home eat and take a quick nap before heading to swim.  It's crazy and I don't know how long I'll be able to keep to this scheadule. 

The Workout…

Warm Up a 400 but the watch says 425 so maybe I did a 450.  Then a 300 kick.  I felt okay kicking.  In fact I held my own which never happens in a kick set.  Hmm…then we did some kick/drill thingy.  Total of 300 yards but what was it?  Meh, whatever. (1050)

8x125's on 2 minutes.  I messed up with the watch and missed a 50 on the 4th 125.  Now the 125's we were to pick it up on laps 3 and 5. 
1    1:38.7     125     1:19
2    1:31.4     125     1:13
3    1:33.4     125     1:15
4    :56.5     75     1:15
5    1:33.1     125     1:14
6    1:34.0     125     1:15
7    1:30.0     125     1:12
8    1:28.9     125     1:11
It took me a while to warm up and get some speed in.  (1000/2050)

Then it was stroke time with 3x100's kick.  I actually led a kick set for a change.  Yeah, it was that bad today.  Well the fast kicker is tapering for a meet.  (300/2350)

6x100's on 2 minutes?  25 Drill / 25 Kick / 50 Swim.  All with fins choice of stroke.  I did fly/back/fly/back/fly/fly (600/2950)

6x50's Free on 55 - 25 Finger Drill 25  Build with fins(300/3250)

6x50's Free on 55 - 25 DPS 25 Fast with paddles and fins (300/3550)

4x25's Specialty Stroke.  I did butterfly.  (100/3650)

And that was it.  I'm going to do my best to swim more the next few weeks.  Even if I swim on my own.  This month like last month hasn't been my best swimming months this year. 

Jan    26.14 miles (=46,000 yards, =42,062 meters)
Feb    21.68 miles (=38,150 yards, =34,884 meters)
Mar    19.36 miles (=34,075 yards, =31,158 meters)
Apr    14.29 miles (=25,150 yards, =22,997 meters)
May    18.67 miles (=32,853 yards, =30,041 meters)
Jun    11.16 miles (=19,650 yards, =17,968 meters)
Jul    17.97 miles (=31,625 yards, =28,918 meters)
Aug    21.08 miles (=37,100 yards, =33,924 meters)
Sep    17.59 miles (=30,950 yards, =28,301 meters)
Oct    12.43 miles (=21,884 yards, =20,011 meters)
Total    180.36 miles (=317,437 yards, =290,264 meters)

I need to step it up.

When Scratching Is A Good Thing!

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda!  With a million excuses but a really good one I decided not to swim at this weekends SCM meet.  Yesterday was the 1,500 which I scratched then today I just skipped.  Oh well.  It is what it is.  When I entered I wanted to swim just to get a feeling for how I'm swimming and what shape I'm in.  But as the meet got closer the less I wanted to swim it.  So big deal I skipped the meet and am out the entry fee.  That and I took time off from work so I'm out some money.  But it's all good.  But since I didn't swim at a meet today I was able to make a swim practice.  Normally I teach at 10am spinning so I can't swim but today since I already got coverage for my class I headed to the pool. 

I guess with a few folks at the meet the workout was sparse in attendance so I helped put in a few lane lines.  Giving me sorta a 100 in the water.  But with talking once I did start my 500 warm up I forgot to stop and start my Garmin Swim.  So with putting in the lane lines and the warm up I got in 600 yards. 

Since not many people showed up we got to split the workout into groups.  I did the distance free workout.  But before getting to the main set we did 200 Swim / 200 Pull (w/o paddles) / 200 Kick / 200 Swim (800/1400)

Main Set:

400 Breathing every 3 on 6:30

4x100's Descending on 1:40

300 Breathing every 3 on 4:30(?)

3x100's Descending on 1:45

200 Breathing every 3 on

4x50's Descending on 50

100 Breating every 3 (ha!  i sorta tried that but needed oxygen) on

2x50's Descending on 1:00

So that was it.  How did it go?  Meh!

Interval  Time  Distance  Avg Pace
1    5:32.7     400     1:23
2    1:17.8     100     1:18
3    1:15.9     100     1:16
4    1:14.7     100     1:15
5    1:10.4     100     1:10
6    3:59.2     300     1:20
7    1:15.3     100     1:15
8    1:11.5     100     1:12
9    1:09.2     100     1:09
10    2:41.6     200     1:21
11    :37.4     50     1:15
12    :34.9     50     1:10
13    :37.3     50     1:15
14    :35.3     50     1:11
15    1:21.3     100     1:21
16    :36.2     50     1:12
17    :33.8     50     1:08

Mind  you those times aren't exact.  Sometimes I had to remember to start or stop the watch.  But it's a rough estimate for me to see how I"m swimming.  Which isn't very fast.  (2000/3400)

We then did 6x75's pulling on 1:10.  Can't remember if they were anything specific.  I think maybe catch up was in there.  Meh, whatever.  (450/3850)

8x25's on 30 1 - 3 Right Arm / 3 Left Arm, 2 - catch up, 3 - pace and 4 sprint.  Repeat.  (200/4,050)

Okay not bad.  4,050 yards.  So this makes three workouts in one week.  Which is good for me of late.  With work I'm swimming a lot less then I like.  As for tomrorow it looks like another scratch day at the swim meet.  I may just go and swim instead.  Also have to get ready for work on Monday.  We have a new routine I need to learn for Monday.  And as always I wait to the last minute to learn it.  Doh!  As for the meet I did see a picture of the pool on Facebook and it looks like it's in a dungeon.  So I'm actually glad I decided not to go.   Of course I'm just trying to justify my laziness to myself.  As I was typing this all out it occured to me I entered this meet last year and didn't go.  Oh well I'm just not destined to swim at this pool. 

These Legs Are Not Made For Swimming

I know I've been yapping on for years about how much I hate kicking.  Kicking is my time to take a pee break or just hang by the wall and soak up some sun.  But now that I teach spinning my legs hate kicking more then I do.  Yesterday I taught 4 spin classes and then this morning I taught 1 more before going to swim.   So needless to say I didn't want to kick and my legs couldn't kick.  Besides the kicking the workout was just a waste of time for me.  I really wasn't in the mood.  Tired mostly.  I was able to get a 20 minute nap between spinning and swimming.  But not enough.  At least I was smart enough NOT to drink any wine last night.  Oy!

For warmup I pulled a 500.  Then we did a 300 kick.  It was stomach/back/side and repeat.  Then we did 3x100's something, something and something more.  Crap, I had it on the tip of my tongue before typing the stomach/back/side.  On well the warm up was 1,100 yards total.

4x200's 100 Catch Up / 100 Swim.  I forgot the interval.  (800/1,900)

Interval  Time  Distance  Avg Pace
1    2:39.7     200     1:20
2    2:40.1     200     1:20
3    2:43.0     200     1:21
4    2:36.7     200     1:18

10x50's 1 Easy / 1 Fast.  (500/2,400)

Then 3x100's kick choice.   (300/2,700)

5x100's 25 Drill Stroke / 25 easy free / 25 Fast Stroke / 25 easy free.  I did them fly/back/fly/back/fly (500/3,200)

Meh then some sprints of some sort then drill stuff.  I don't remember.  It's a blur.  (500/3,700)

So that's 3,700 yards.  And no more swimming or classes.  Yeah!  I'm beat.  I am registered to swim a meet this weekend but I'm doubting I'm going to make it.  May just eat the entry cost and relax.  I don't know if I can swim fast both mentally and physically.  It's just too much. And that is it till next time...

Yet Another Craptastic Swim Workout

Oh Yeah!  I just spent a few minutes trying to figure out what I had just swam via my Garmin Swim Watch.  Looking at the main dashboard online I saw what looked like one long crazy workout for today Tuesday.  The only thing that I failed to notice and remember is that I haven't swam a swim practice since last Tuesday, October 2nd and today is Tuesday, October 9th.  Yeah, I'm not that smaht!  With that said...

50 was just me putting in the lanes then just a 300 pull for warm up.  I spent more time talking then swimming.  I really wasn't in the mood to go hard today.  I taught spinning at 5:45 and well I was beat.  Didn't get a power nap in between.  We then did a 200 kick.  So 550 yards.

Hmm...500 something.  It was drilling and swimming.  Maybe 5x100's Right Arm / Left Arm / Kick / Build or something like that.  (500/1050)

Then a 400 Freestyle breathing every 3.  I pulled this without paddles  (400/1450)

10x100's on 1:40.  25 Breathing Every 3 / 25 Easy / 25 Sprint / 25 Easy

1    1:17.5   
2    1:19.9    
3    1:19.8   
4    1:19.9    
5    1:22.7    
6    1:14.4   
7    1:15.2    
8    1:17.6    
9    1:15.5   
10    1:17.3   

Meh.  I was struggling here.  I'd prefer 10x100's pace.  (1000/2550)

6x50's Easy Down / Fast Back.  I used paddles but we could have used paddles with fins. (300/2850)

Stroke Time!  A 150 Kick. (3000) 

6x75's on 1:40 Drill/Kick/Swim.  I did 2 Fly / 2 Back / 2 Fly (450/3450)

Then we did a bunch of 25's.  I think 12 total.  (300/3750)

And that was it.  I felt pretty crappy.  Struggling during this workout.  Not every workout can be a good workout.  I may revise down my goal for USMS Go The Distance.  I'm once again almost beyond a comeback. 

Swim'en To Distraction

I haven't swum since last Thursday and boy did I feel it.  It felt like I hadn't been swimming in months.  Really it was that bad today swimming.  Never mind just not swimming but I will admit to not treating my body well and let's face it I'm not getting any younger.  It all fell together today and I fell apart.  I did teach spinning last night and then this morning and my legs felt a bit crampy at times.  But the swimming was all over the place.  Took me most of the workout to feel warmed up and ready to swim.  But by then I was tired.  On top of that I kept getting distracted in thought.  Unimportant things kept drifting in and out of my head.  None of it had anything to do with swimming.  It was my mind wandering of things I cannot change. 

As for the swim…
Warmed Up starting with a 100 of me putting in the lane lines then a 450 pull/swim warm up.  Then 3x100's kick.  (850)

6x50's Breathing 5/3 by 25 on 50.(300/1150)

500 Swim stretched out breathing every 3. (500/1650)
Distance:     500 yd
Pool Length:     25 yd
Time:     6:46
Avg Pace:     1:21 min/100 yd

3 Rounds of 4x100's.  Round 1 on 1:30 / Round 2 on 1:40 / Round 3 on 1:50.  Descending.  I messed up with the watch as it only reads 11x100's.  (1200/2850)
Interval Time  Distance Avg Pace
1    1:22.2     100     1:22
2    1:22.2     100     1:22
3    1:18.3     100     1:18
4    1:19.3     100     1:19
5    1:15.7     100     1:16
6    1:14.3     100     1:14
7    1:15.2     100     1:15
8    1:13.1     100     1:13
9    1:11.2     100     1:11
10    1:09.0     100     1:09
11    1:08.0     100     1:08
Not great but okay.  As you can see in the graphic that rest part must have been when I f'ed up the watch.

After that is was easy stuff...sorta.

200 Kick.  (200/3050)

6x75's IM dropping worst stroke (breaststroke) on 1:20 (450/3500)

3 Rounds 4x25's.  1 Drill / 1 Catch Up Drill / 1 Pace / 1 Sprint (300/3800)

8x25's something something something and that was it.  Oh yeah, stroke!  Long and easy on the odds and sprint on the evens.  Did them all butterfly.  (200/4000)

And that was it.  A 4,000 yard workout.  It was a wake up call for me.  To shape up or ship out.  I can't keep pushing my body and not taking care of it.  After today's swim I'm a bit worried about the 2.5K Open Water Swim this weekend.  And then the swim meet the following weekend.  Oy!  This isn't going to be pretty.

Swimtember In The Rearview Mirror

Swimtember is over and now it's Swimtober Time!  Before looking back let's look ahead to Swimtober.  I got a few events here in Florida lined up with the first being a 2.5K Open Water Swim down in Siesta Key.  Last year I swam the 1K and didn't actually hate Open Water Swimming.  It was my one and only OW.  Now I'm back for round two and kicking it up to the 2.5K.  Then after that I'm doing a SCM meet down in Orlando.  I signed up for all three days but it looks like I'll be skipping Friday and the 1500.  But it looks like Saturday and Sunday are a go.  I did sandbag my times since last year I slowed up in all my events I added even more time since I'm going slow up this year as well.  Getting old and all that shit.

8     Male     1500 SCM     Free     20:00.00     10/12/2012
18     Male     200 SCM     Fly     2:35.00     10/13/2012
24     Male     400 SCM     Free     4:40.00     10/13/2012
38     Male     100 SCM     Fly     1:13.00     10/13/2012
42     Male     800 SCM     Free     10:00.00     10/14/2012
52     Male     200 SCM     Breast     2:25.00     10/14/2012
58     Male     200 SCM     IM     3:00.00     10/14/2012

I may not even swim fast enough to earn these sandbagged times.  Oy!  Now as for Swimtember...

My Progress for Go The Distance 2012
Month    Total Distance
Jan    26.14 miles (=46,000 yards, =42,062 meters)
Feb    21.68 miles (=38,150 yards, =34,884 meters)
Mar    19.36 miles (=34,075 yards, =31,158 meters)
Apr    14.29 miles (=25,150 yards, =22,997 meters)
May    18.67 miles (=32,853 yards, =30,041 meters)
Jun    11.16 miles (=19,650 yards, =17,968 meters)
Jul    17.97 miles (=31,625 yards, =28,918 meters)
Aug    21.08 miles (=37,100 yards, =33,924 meters)
Sep    17.59 miles (=30,950 yards, =28,301 meters)
Total    167.93 miles (=295,553 yards, =270,254 meters)

I never did get around to swimming Friday, Saturday or Sunday!  I sound like a broken record here in saying "at least I swam."  Cuz' really I am lucky to have a pool less than 5 minutes away from home.  And if I didn't swim I really would have lost my mind, well more so.

I'm Not Crazy Just Going A Little Postal In The Water

Eat, Spin, Eat, Nap, Swim…

This morning I taught spinning at 5:45, oy!  I actually stayed up a bit late last night to watch Honey Boo Boo!  After class this morning I came home, ate and took a short nap.  Then it was swim time!  Uh, yeah?

450 Warm up.  Should have done a 500 but meh.
200 Kick (650)
Hmm…some drill stuff.  300 yards. (950)

300 Sprinting or picking up the pace on laps 3, 6, 9 and 12. (1250)

Main Set - 8x125's
100 Working on setting technique and breathing every 3 on 1:45 / 25 Sprint on 25 (950/2200)

4x100's Kick stroke of choice (400/2600)
6x75's - 25 Drill / 25 Free / 25 Sprint.  The drill and sprint were choice stroke.  I did the first one fly then the rest back.  (450/3050)
Then it was some 50's and 25's.  About 650 more yards.  (3,700)

So a total of 3,700 yards for today.  The main mission of today's workout was working on our freestyle techinque.  Setting it then keeping with it while going fast.  Something I need to learn to do.  So far for the month I'm at least over 30K.  I might be lucky and get to 35K but I doubt that.  Work will get in it's way.  I'm teaching a weight lifting class tonight so I'm thinking of sleeping in tomorrow.  No swimming.  Actually may use tomorrow as a recovery day.  I teach spinning 5 days a week so I need to squeeze in swimming and recovery.  It's getting me in great shape but boy do I hurt some days.  Today was one of them.  So if I sleep in tomorrow then do a quick easy swim before I teach on Saturday that won't be much yardage but come Sunday I will do a Garbage Yardage swim to eek out some more yards.  Speaking of Sunday's a swimmer mate and I are thinking about doing a Postal.  I couldn't find the info on the the usms.org website but it's a 200 Fly / 400 IM / 1650 Free all to be swum the same day back to back.  It's doable.  Long and boring but doable.  We are thinking of organizing a few of us and doing it.  Right now it's just CRAZY TALK!